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I don’t think anyone will be shocked about the main outcomes of a recent survey carried out by Vicon: the two main barriers to widespread adoption are perceived to be cost and high quality content. This hasn’t really changed since the last VR explosion over a decade ago.

In simple terms, these two criteria are achievable. Affordable tech is just around the corner from Sony, HTC etc, and an even lower entry barrier exists in the use of current high end phones plus Google Cardboard. The visual quality of the content even on these low-end platforms blows the old VR experiences out of the water. But this over-simplifies the situation.

First off, affordability is not the only factor regarding the hardware is comfort/ease of use. Do people want to be hooked up to some PC/set-top box/console through a cumbersome umbilical? Will they remember to ensure their wireless version is charged, and will their WiFi/Bluetooth hold up reliably (especially if the whole family are using it)?

Secondly, high quality of course doesn’t just apply to the visual fidelity, how many games have made the mistake of thinking great graphics = commercial success? Yes we can push hi-res images into your eyes in stereo at framerates that won’t make you feel ill, but what are the pictures of? We we want to engage with it, and for how long?

People are getting wary of the hype. We were sold stereo 3D as the next revolution in linear media (for the umpteenth time), and yes, the blockbuster films can still fill cinemas, but they may well do that anyway. Where’s all the great content in my living room?

I sat there, excitedly awaiting the BBC’s first broadcast in 3D from Wimbledon, which was a perfect example of a “what’s the point” moment: unless the ball is going to hit you in the face, tennis in 3D adds little to tennis in 2D. Likewise the Olympics, is it really worth the hassle to watch the 100 metre final in 3D? Other TV shows were more impressive, such as the Strictly final and Dr Who special, because there’s more control and staging that you can do to make the most of the stereo effect. Hardly surprising that BBC pulled the plug on the experiment. I wonder how many 3D glasses are now sitting neglected in the corner of living rooms around the world?

So as ever, content is king. We need engaging, compelling content to go to the trouble of popping on that headset or pressing that cardboard to our face. And it’s coming.

Was any Star Wars fan at SIGGRAPH last year not excited by the work at ILM’s XLab? Being able to wander around the Star Wars universe while the story unfolds, seeing different aspects of the story or moving the camera to watch from a different angle is FUN. Being chased by aliens in the The Mill/Google ATAP ‘Help’ is FUN. Playing Minecraft on an Oculus Rift is FUN!

So whilst the survey tells us some truths about what the future of VR needs, they’re not new nor are they a shock. What is important is that this time, there’s a much greater chance of getting this right. The pieces are all there, we just need to put them together in the right way.

When I was just getting into music, the late seventies/early eighties, I got drawn in by the synth-pop that was emerging. The first single I bought was Are ‘friends’ electric? by Tubeway Army. The original release of Star Wars had ignited my love of Sci-Fi , and the futuristic sound of Numan and the other bands at the time was an obvious entry into the world of music.

My older brother was living with us at the time, and when I played my first Tubeway Army 7″ single on my mum’s old record player he said “It’s good, but sounds just like Bowie”.

I was devastated. Who was this ‘Bowie’ that my bother (clearly mistakenly) thought Numan had pilfered from? How could anybody prior to my generation have invented anything so original?

“Listen to this” said my brother, and put on the double live album Stage. I sat dumbstruck. WTF?!?! Not only is it better than the stuff now, it sounded fresher.

I spent the next month secretly working my way through my bother’s substantial Bowie collection, probably wearing out his copies of Hunky Dory,Ziggy Stardust, Heroes, Young Americans… (sorry bruv)! When he moved out I had to buy them all for myself, tsk!

Then Bowie released Ashes to Ashes, and out-new romantic’ed all the bright young things, and that was that. He was the king.

Was everything he did great? No. Was he always original? Hell no, and he’d be the first to acknowledge his influences. But has anyone had such an impact on music and popular culture over such a long period? I don’t think so. My all time favourite tracks/albums are dominated by his own work and by songs by other artists that you can hear his influence on.

We’ve lost a true great, but the world is a better place for him sharing his talent with us.

The UK’s creative and digital industries are booming. Contributing 6% to the UK’s GDP and employing almost four million people, Britain is steaming ahead and it is safe to say that this boom will continue into the foreseeable future… (more via @HuffPostUKTech)

Process:
Blend all the ingredients in a suitable space with some academic rigor at room temperature.
Mix in some design thinking and leave to develop, constantly stirring to ensure the theory and practice don’t become irrevocably separated.
Test the mixture regularly to ensure that it has the right combination of knowledge, skills, theory and practice, adjusting the mixture accordingly.
Separate into small manageable portions and leave to prove.
Once the portions have risen to their potential, place the entire batch in a validation oven at a high temperature with a top 20 university.
After several hours, remove and voila:
Three deliciously innovative integrated masters programmes!BA/MArt The Art of Visual EffectsBA/MArt The Art of Computer AnimationBA/MArt The Art of Video Games

Last Friday we had another of our open days for potential applicants to our VFX, animation and game degree programmes. It was a busy day, and this time we had our Oculus Rift and a workstation set up so people could try that out and play with some of the software they’ll be using if they come on our programmes.

It’s always good to speak to people who are starting out on the road to a career in the creative industries, and the enthusiasm and depth to which they’ve started developing their skills already is amazing. I wish I’d been that focussed at that age!

Having our new head of animation along, Alex Williams, was great too, especially for those specifically interested in the animation degree. I become a proper fan-boy when he says things like “when I worked on the Lion King..”, working alongside Alex and the rest of the tutors at Escape Studios is a real treat and they bring so much to the courses. I wonder if I should get him to autograph my DVD of Iron Giant (or even better the new Blu Ray when it arrives, it’s one of my fave films), or would that be unprofessional!?

If you couldn’t make it along to the open day, there’s details of future ones on the website, so come along and find out more, including details of our ‘Experience Day’ which gives a real flavour of how we work with students. Whatever you decide, talking about the games, animation and VFX with like-minded people is always fun.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to SIGGRAPH, so it was great to get back to it last month. As ever the sheer scale of it is somewhat overwhelming, and certainly means that even with a trio of eager Escapees, we were never going to get to everything that we wanted to.

Arriving slightly jet-lagged on Sunday afternoon, it was straight off to the convention centre to register and attend the first session: the technical papers fast forward.

For those of you who haven’t been to this, this is where the authors of the 154 (how many!?) technical papers have that chance to ‘sell’ their papers in 30 seconds. This is great fun, both to see how they do this and to see the variety of styles, from very dry statements of their paper’s contribution through to hip-hop backed, costumed performances. What struck me from this was the sheer diversity of the papers, but also that a lot seems to be very incremental and there didn’t seem to be many ‘eureka’ breakthroughs this year. I may of course be very wrong…time will tell.

So if the technical stream was worthy but uninspiring, what were the highlights?

VR

Has anyone avoided the VR hype in the last year or so? Well done if you have. There was definitely a theme here, both in terms of ‘look at me’ type shouting and ‘what should we do with this?’ discussions. It was great to hear from those working at the forefront (The Mill, xRez, New Deal) in an insightful session on the trials and tribulations of putting together a mix of video and CG in an engaging experience

This was interesting to contrast with the panel with those who were at the last VR ‘Renaissance’ (sharing memories of the queues for the CAVE at SIGGRAPH92). Whilst as many people pointed out, VR has never gone away, it’s just not been in the public eye for the last 20 years, there was a general feeling that it would find its place in the mainstream now due to a mix of major investment, step changes in visual fidelity and the low entry price point for consumers. We shall see, but certainly the demo from ILM’s Xlab looked mighty fine. Or am I just excited by the forthcoming Star Wars film?

Dinosaurs

Talking of ILM…my next ‘highlight’ (OK, highlights as it was split over two sessions) was the ILM presentations.

To hear how it all began 40 years ago and where they are today, and to see stills from productions spanning that time was fascinating. To hear Dennis Muren saying that he read the CG ‘bible’ Foley & Van Dam when he was trying to get to grips with CG was a nice touch as that was my first graphics text book that I was sent by my supervisor to read as preparation for my doctorate. Am I too much of a geek if I say I’ve a signed copy?!

What I hadn’t realised was how much mo-cap was used for the dinosaurs in Jurrasic World. It makes sense for the ‘raptors, with their size and interaction with the human actors making them seem more suited to being driven by a mo-cap performance. But for the t-rex and inodminus rex? I wouldn’t have guessed. The auditions that they had to see how well people could ‘walk like a dinosaur’ (was I the only one thinking “boom boom acka lacka lacka boom” in my head?) were quite amusing, but I have to say the final performances were pretty convincing, albeit with some hilarious ‘out takes’ when they took a break but the capture rolled on…

All the tech. All the shiny new toys, software and kit. And my favourite thing of all this year was a load of cardboard boxes. That’s not entirely fair of course. It was actually some cardboard plus a load of tech. Basically it was a live ‘make your own’ video game but with added physical cut-and-paste with the wonderful State of Play. I loved Lume and Lumino City, and bringing that aesthetic to a live workshop was a great idea. I can’t wait to see what they do next!

It’s been a week since the first Pearson College London Open Day that I was involved in, so there’s been time to digest all the facts and reflect on how the day went. But my opinion hasn’t changed.

They were fantastic.

When I knew that we were holding the Open Days in venues including the embankment level and the 10th floor (11 floors between them), people had to be signed into the building and issued with a visitor’s pass, and most placed they needed to go were accessible only to those with a keycard, I may have feared the worst. And with such a tightly packed schedule that any slippage could throw the whole day out, what could possibly go wrong??!!

And you know what:? Nothing did. To the best of my knowledge, everybody saw and heard what they wanted to, nobody got lost or trapped in the depths of 80 Strand, and everyone had a good time. Brilliant.

We had standing room only to hear about our new degrees in VFX, animation and games, with people asking very sensible questions and showing real enthusiasm for the subjects. Our ‘taster’ sessions from our head of 2D (Davi Stein) and head of 3D (Mark Spevick) let people get an idea of what they’ll learn if they study with us, plus some fascinating insights into industry tricks, such as how you make a real police car fly through the air like it was blown away by a jet engine! Not something students will actually be doing in person, but understanding how you deal with these shots and incorporate them into the final footage is an essential skill.

How do they do that?

The weather played its part too, with a beautiful day giving gloroius views from the balcony.

All in all it was a great showcase for the PCL degrees, and it was great to meet so many talented people who clearly already have an idea of where they want to go in life. I think we had some serious fun, which is what we’re all about after all.